What To Do This Week, November 25 - 28

It's Monday, and the holiday break seems more like an unreachable oasis than a quickly-approaching reality. We suggest taking it one day at a time. Why not celebrate the end of Monday with a reward of a classy night of fireside cocktails and free live jazz atop the Empire Hotel? Remember: it won’t be long before turkey and pumpkin pie beckon us over to the dinner table. It's just over the horizon, we promise.

If doing a good deed involves David Byrne crooning to us, then we are all ears. Hear tunes from the original cast of Here Lies Love along with the legendary Talking Heads front-man at this benefit concert. This "Once in a Lifetime" opportunity benefits Doctors Without Borders to assist with recovery efforts in the Philippines after the damage from Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan.) Tickets are $58.80 per person.

Why not pile on a big helping pile o' knowledge on your Thanksgiving plate? The Brooklyn Brainery hosts this 1.5-hour class on native foods that might’ve shown up at the first Thanksgiving, a.k.a. perfect fodder for dreaming up some new holiday dishes. Turkey may be the most popular American bird this time of year – but there’s also ducks and geese from the ol’ U.S. of A. Oh and did we mention? Venison, fish, cranberries, chiles, tomatoes, pumpkin and even chocolate. It’s $10 to attend the class, and everyone gets authentic recipes (with an extra side of history).

With that food baby enjoying a rotund plumpness in your midsection, will you really be doing anything else but watching TV and movies while wine-drunk with loved ones? No, no you will not. Join us and our fellow overeaters (hey, count us in, too) at Videology for an all-day smorgasbord of Turkey-day themed movies to celebrate the occasion. Put on the stretchy pants, kick back and order a digestif or two.

“Purple Haze” certainly seems like an apropos song for a day spent relaxing and drifting from one plate to the next. It also happens that the guitar god himself was born on November 27th, right in time for the holiday. The Terra Blues honors the late legend with their annual Thanksgiving Day celebration of his birthday. Michael Powers, a regular at this Greenwich Village blues joint, will be playing tribute to Hendrix with a healthy dose of rock to banish food comas for good.